Leaked report: worker abuse, violence continues at Foxconn

Foxconn is having a hard time getting out from under its bad reputation, and …

Electronic gadget manufacturer Foxconn is under fire—yes, again—for alleged worker abuse. The Chinese state-run Global Times claims to have information from an as-yet-unreleased report by Foxconn itself on the results of its worker investigation, which details safety issues, "violent training," and low wages.

The survey was conducted on Foxconn's behalf by researchers from several universities located in mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. They surveyed 1,736 workers, and 14 researchers were reportedly allowed first-hand access to Foxconn's facilities to check it out for themselves.

Despite widespread reports that Foxconn had given employees a 30 percent raise earlier this year, the newspaper claims that workers got a maximum of 9.1 percent while losing many of their other benefits and bonuses. Student interns sometimes made up as much as half of the staff in Foxconn's Shenzhen, Kunshan, Taiyuan, Wuhan, and Shanghai plants, and they were supposedly forced to work overtime and night shifts against local law.

(It's unclear whether the interns get paid from working at Foxconn, but Global Times claims that Foxconn doesn't sign contracts with them so that the company doesn't have to pay their social welfare or medical costs.)

Additionally, 38.1 percent of those surveyed said their privacy had been invaded by management, and 16.4 percent reported being subject to "corporal violence." And finally, although the company is supposed to provide workers exposed to hazardous materials with regular health checks, at least one unnamed employee said that he only received two medical checks in his 16 years at Foxconn.

Some critics of the report argue that the Global Times is acting as a puppet for the Chinese government, which allegedly has unnamed "issues" with Foxconn. However, Foxconn has long had a controversial history when it comes to wages, safety, and worker treatment. The company has been subject to repeat investigations in recent years, though most of the companies that use Foxconn for manufacturing have yet to find sufficient reason to take their business elsewhere.

Which companies are those, anyway? Apple is the most common name that gets attached to Foxconn news, but other big names like Nintendo, Sony, Nokia, Dell, and HP have all contracted with Foxconn for various products. Foxconn has been on a big PR push since news spread about worker suicides earlier this year, but has yet to respond to the claims made in the latest report.

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Jacqui Cheng
Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more. Emailjacqui@arstechnica.com//Twitter@eJacqui